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This is the online presentation of a 125-day series of mini-profiles of famous and infamous Montanans. The series commemorates 125 years of publishing the Great Falls Tribune. The articles will appear on the Montana section front Mondays through Saturdays, and on the Sunday Life page on Sundays. Additions will appear here after appearing in the newspaper.

The "Galloping Swede," former Gov. J. Hugo Aronson, was a powerhouse of Montana politics in midcentury.

Aronson personified the American dream for many Montanans.

Born in Sweden before the turn of the century, Aronson came to America in October 1911, unable to speak English and nearly penniless.

After a stint in the Army in 1917, he returned to the oilfields of Montana.

"I didn’t get the nickname ‘Galloping Swede’ by sitting on my fanny," he said later. "I got the name from carrying lumber for wooden oil rigs which were 3x12s and 20 feet long, and I would carry five while the others carried one.

Aronson entered public life in 1934 by winning election to the Cut Bank City Council.

Then he served 14 years in the Montana Legislature, followed by public pressure to run for governor.

Aronson served eight years as governor, from 1953 through 1960. He was Montana’s 13th governor, but only the third Republican and, in his words, “the first working stiff.”

Aronson was a strong proponent of funding education, but he remained a fiscal conservative.

“Today there is a philosophy that the government should tell us what to do from the cradle to the grave,” he said in a 1953 speech. "I think we should develop the stamina and the courage to tell the government what we will do."

After leaving office, Aronson remained active in politics. His wife, Rose, died in 1968. He spent his last years in the state Veteran’s Home in Columbia Falls, where he died on the 10th anniversary of her death.

"He was an inspiration to all who knew him," said former Gov. Tim Babcock. "He enriched the history of Montana."